


Titanium Heart

by to-a-merrier-world (wayward_wolves)



Series: sleepyhunk's prompts and drabbles [12]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Marvel Cinematic Universe Fusion, Drabble, Fake Science, Keith is basically Black Widow, Keitor, Lotor is basically Iron Man, M/M, Minor Violence, Revenge, Secret Identity, Villains to Heroes, marvel AU, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 06:51:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12978465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayward_wolves/pseuds/to-a-merrier-world
Summary: Lotor knew exactly what it was like to have a gaping hole in his chest, and the arc reactor had nothing to do with it. During his imprisonment, Lotor found out that Throk, his oldest friend and father figure, was behind his kidnapping, and swore he would have his revenge and make things right. When he finally escaped, Lotor hid the arc reactor from Throk, played up his (still existent) PTSD, and handed the company over to Throk, closing himself off to the rest of the world.After all, who would suspect the reclusive, traumatized, ex-billionaire playboy of being the super-villain Prince Sincline?--Written for the prompt: "Everyone keeps telling me you're the bad guy."





	Titanium Heart

**Author's Note:**

> [premise: iron man-esque au. lotor is the billionaire-playboy-genius, son of the genius weapons inventor zarkon and genius chemist honerva who built galra industries together. they both died when lotor was 15, and he was taken under the wing of throk, who lotor came to see as a father figure. eventually, lotor takes over galra industries, creating weapons just like his father, yadda yadda. what happened to tony stark in afghanistan is pretty much what happens to lotor when he’s 27. lotor also builds a suit and has the whole arc reactor and everything, but unlike tony, he figures out it was throk very quickly and plans to take him down. so, he hides the arc reactor from throk, plays up his (still real) ptsd, and resigns as ceo of galra industries, leaving it to throk so that lotor can dedicate himself to utterly destroying him and everything he’s ever had/loved.
> 
> along with his ever loyal secretary acxa, lotor becomes Prince Sincline, the supervillain, in his metal suit. (looks kinda like [this](https://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/armor2.jpg), only i’m thinking more of a purple and silver color scheme) he eventually picks up other team members (ezor, zethrid, and narti) who are helping him on his quest for revenge/to take throk down. in order to hide his true motives of taking down throk, he also targets other large companies that are corrupt in some way, so throk doesn’t get suspicious of lotor.
> 
> everything is going smoothly for lotor, until kolivan (head of the gov’t organizaiton, The Blade of Marmora) and his band of misfits (aka the Paladins) start trying to take him down. keith in this au is basically black widow (skill + background wise)–ex-master assassin, wants to make up for his past, spy, etc etc. now works for the Blade. lotor isn’t actually a “real” supervillain, in that he doesn’t actively try to hurt anyone (avoids it for the most part), tho… property damage is pretty much always guaranteed. but lotor doesn’t want to hurt the paladins, if he can help it, cause he may ultimately need them when he finally takes throk down and he can concede that they usually do important work when they aren’t getting in his way. so, he… plays them for fools, really. he sometimes brings acxa, ezor, zethrid, and narti into the field, and they’re always one-step ahead of the paladins. keith, tho, lotor usually fights himself. (they have a weird, flirty/fighting relationship that keith does not talk about to the others b/c not even he can understand it.)
> 
> eventually, tho, keith starts to think that maybe prince sincline isn’t quite the villain they’ve made him out to be… that maybe he’s not as crazy as he appears. that maybe he has a good reason for what he does and just doesn’t want anyone to know about it…]  
> \--  
> hope you enjoy!

Lotor gradually lowered the power of his repulsers until he was able to land on the lab’s floor gracefully. The repulsers shut off as he strode forward towards the computers in the center of the room.

He only had about half an hour before the loop he’d set the security system on ended and he was discovered, which was more than enough time. He just needed to make sure it looked like he broke in at the same time as the security system registered him.

No need for anyone to realize their security systems were easily hacked by the biggest name in supervillainy these days. While he doubted they could come up with anything he  _couldn’t_ hack, he also knew better than to tempt fate.

Lotor concentrated on the task in front of him. He plugged in the drive that allowed S.E.N.D.A.K. to download all of the files Lotor needed, allowing Lotor to concentrate on changing the coding of several of CAM Tech’s new drone designs. 

Lotor smirked behind his face plate. It would take them months to find all the tiny, but not insignificant, changes he was making, not to even mention the time it would take them to fix it all. And by then, they’d have bigger things to worry about.

He was concentrated so intently on what he was doing that he didn’t register the presence behind him until his proximity sensors went off. Lotor whipped around, hands raised and repulsers whining as they charged to blast whoever it was into the concrete walls.

“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you’re  _not_  paying CAM Tech a social visit,” Keith said, leaning against the far wall in faux-relaxation.

Lotor cursed under his breath and didn’t lower his repulsers. 

“How did you know I was here?” His voice coming out in its usual modulated cadence when he wore the armor.

Keith ignored the question, leaning to the side to get a look at the computers behind Lotor. His eyes narrowed for a moment before his gaze turned back to Lotor.

“Definitely not a social visit,” he said, pushing himself off the wall and walking slowly towards Lotor.

Lotor felt exposed, as though Keith’s eyes could see straight through his armor. They couldn’t, of course, but it didn’t stop Lotor’s heart rate from skyrocketing.

“Not a step closer,  _Red Hawk_ ,” Lotor growled, using Keith’s code name to emphasis how serious he was.

Keith stopped, though there was now a considerably shorter distance between them. His dissecting gaze turned considering as he studied Lotor’s face plate, as though it would give him any clues as to what Lotor actually looked like.

“You know,” Keith started conversationally, not losing his relaxed air. “Everyone keeps telling me that you’re the bad guy.”

Lotor furrowed his brow at the sudden conversation change.

“Last I checked, little bird, I  _am_  a villain,” Lotor said, though with more confusion than malice. He finally lowered his hands, the repulsers’ light dimming.

Keith hummed, nodding his head. “Yeah, you’re a criminal. You’ve broken  _a lot_  of laws. But that doesn’t mean you’re a  _bad_   _guy,_ little prince _.”_

Lotor was so confused that he couldn’t even manage his usual amusement at the nickname Keith had given him to match the one Lotor gave Keith. “Little prince”, as though there was anything “little” about him, especially in the armor.

“I don’t follow,” Lotor replied.

“At first, I was all for taking you down,” Keith admitted. “You acted like a crazy supervillain–destroying, stealing, taking hostages. There was almost always an explosion of some kind, when you were involved. It was all pretty cut and dry, as far as villain cases go.”

“Are you alright, sir?” S.E.N.D.A.K. asked on their private channel. “You’re heart rate has increased rapidly.”

Hearing S.E.N.D.A.K.’s voice in his ear made the tight pressure in Lotor’s chest ease. Lotor cut his outer microphone to answer his A.I. in the affirmative before turning back to his conversation with Keith, finally able to breath without chocking.

“But?” Lotor asked when he didn’t continue.

Keith looked at him for a moment, as though he sensed that Lotor had been speaking to someone else, before continuing.

“ _But_  things didn’t quite… add up.” He turned and walked towards a table not far away, hopping up to sit on it.

“The companies you targeted always had some kind of dirty business going on.” Keith raised one finger in the air, counting off. “You always attacked at times when there would be the least amount of people working, and none of them ever received serious injuries. Even when you blew up buildings.”

Lotor clenched his jaw and ignored the voice in his head, that sounded suspiciously like his father, telling him how  _soft_  and  _weak_  he was. And how much of an  _idiot_  he was for letting Red Hawk close enough to realize all this.

“When you get into fights with other villains, you always keep them away from civilians,” Keith continued, seemingly obliviously to Lotor’s slipping composure. “And you haven’t, not even once, actually tried to kill me, despite having every opportunity to do so.”

“Not trying to kill you is cause for suspicion?” Lotor asked incredulously.

“It is when you’re a self-proclaimed supervillain,” Keith replied smugly. “Now, for someone with motives completely unrelated to supervillainy, well… none of this would seem quite so strange.”

Lotor crossed his arms, thinking fast on how to derail Keith. “Well, since you apparently have me  _all figured out_ ,” Lotor mocked. “What, pray tell, is my actual motive?”

Keith smiled, throwing Lotor off and making his mind race _. What the hell did he know?_

“Spies are good liars,” Keith said, making another jarring subject change. “Good at lying and good at spotting lies. It also means that we’re well-practiced at seeing past the masks people wear to obscure the truth.”

Keith slipped off the table and slowly made his way towards Lotor, forcing Lotor back until his legs hit the computer table. When he was just close enough that Lotor could reach out and touch him if he wanted, Keith stopped.

“You’re not as good at lying as you think,” Keith murmured. His eyes bored into Lotor’s face plate, as though willing him to hear the underlying meaning of his words as he whispered the final nail in Lotor’s coffin.

“Lotor.”

Lotor reacted before he could even fully process the repercussions. His right gauntlet wrapped around Keith’s throat, his left whining as the repulser charged. Keith reached up and wrapped his hands around Lotor’s wrist, gasping for breath under Lotor’s fingers.

“ _How?”_ Lotor hissed.

Keith closed his eyes in pain. “Lo…tor…”

Keith opened his eyes and Lotor froze. There were any number of unnamed emotions swirling in those eyes, but none of them were fear. He couldn’t possibly trust Lotor not to hurt him, could he?

Lotor’s grip loosened enough for Keith to break free. He stumbled away, bent forward and coughing.

Lotor waited as Keith slowly got his breathing back to normal, pushing aside any guilt at what he’d almost done. He’d done far worse to survive, so merely  _almost_  doing something shouldn’t shake him like this.

“How?” Lotor asked again, much calmer this time.

Keith looked up at him through his bangs before standing up straight again. He rubbed at his neck, hissing at the pain it caused. 

“I guessed,” he said, voice raspy. “You just confirmed.”

Lotor cursed and turned away.  _How could he be so **stupid**? _

“Don’t worry.” Lotor looked back at Keith and tried not to feel relieved that his voice sounded stronger already. “No one else knows, or even suspects.”

Lotor looked at Keith helplessly, never more thankful for his face plate than now. “Why?”

Keith’s eyes hardened and he stepped closer, closer than he’d ever willingly come to Lotor.

“Because I want to help you.” Something vulnerable flashed across Keith’s face, gone so quickly that Lotor almost doubted he’d seen it at all. “Like someone helped me, once.”

Lotor let out a slow breath, then signaled for his face plate to slide away. 

“Sir,” S.E.N.D.A.K. interrupted the process, sounding concerned and irritated in equal parts. “Do you really think this is a good-”

Lotor ignored his A.I. and forced his face plate up anyway. Keith’s eyes widened in the most obvious display of shock Lotor had ever seen from the man.

“Well, then,” Lotor said, his deep voice no longer obscured by the voice modulator. “It seems we have a lot to discuss, little bird.”

Keith blinked his surprise away, his lips curling slightly in the corners in a rare, genuine smile.

“That we do, little prince. That we do.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! please leave a kudo/comment if you enjoyed! i might continue this au...
> 
> *S.E.N.D.A.K. stands for "Something Extraordinary Necessary Dedicated And Knowledgeable" and he's basically like Tony's JARVIS. Sendak was Lotor's butler/bodyguard growing up.
> 
> link to [my tumblr](https://sleepyhunk.tumblr.com/) / [this prompt fill on tumblr](https://sleepyhunk.tumblr.com/post/168408207396/how-about-7-with-keith-and-lotor-and-can-be-gen)


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